Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are well known. Web browsers are software residing on a client (e.g., a personal computer). Using a browser, the client can communicate with a web server to enable access to and viewing of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) objects. A web server typically includes a server (e.g., a UNIX-or Windows NT-based computer) connected to a network (e.g., the Internet, an intranet or other network), web server software configured with the host name of the server and the location of HTML objects on the server and the HTML objects stored by that server.
In general operation, to access a web page, a user enters a request for a HTML object by specifying a uniform resource locator (URL) via the browser and hitting “Submit” (or another function key) and the URL is sent to the web server using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The web server responds by locating the HTML object requested and returning it to the browser. The browser receives the HTML object, interprets the HTML codes, translates them into a web page, and displays the web page. In this way, web browsers enable access to the vast number of HTML objects via the World Wide Web, the Internet or intranets. HTML generally is well known. A primary purpose of HTML is to describe how to format the text (and other content) of a web page. HTML uses tags to indicate how text of a web page should be displayed and to specify the URL of objects to which a page is linked. HTML objects are commonly stored on a web server as standard text files with a HTM or HTML extension. Linking is a powerful feature of HTML. One drawback with HTML links is that links are created by coding a page with HTML tags to link it to other objects (e.g., another document or a specific location within a document). Therefore creating web pages and links requires a working knowledge of HTML and the time required to write HTML code a create a page and any desired links. Editing a HTML web page or a link typically requires using HTML to edit the original web page or link. One significant problem with HTML links is that if a web page (or other object linked to it) is moved or deleted, any links to that page or object needs to be manually changed or an error message (e.g., “file not found”) may appear when a user clicks on the link.
One limitation of web browsers and web servers is that they were designed primarily to access HTML objects. Browsers typically cannot cause a web server to retrieve and return non-HTML objects. This inhibits a user from accessing non-HTML objects, documents or databases from a web browser. Non-HTML objects, for example, may include databases, non-HTML documents, stored views for documents in a database, identification files stored in a user directory and many other types of objects. Database views provide a convenient way to index a plurality of documents. Identification files may comprise information about a system user (e.g., electronic mail address, role, profile, etc.).
One example of a non-HTML database is Lotus Notes. Lotus Notes is a popular software system, rich with a number of well-known functions. These functions, however, are typically accessed via a client (loaded with Lotus Notes client software) communicating with a server (loaded with Lotus Notes server software). Because Notes is not an HTML-based application, it has not been practical to access objects in a Notes database via a standard web browser.
Prior database systems, for example, Lotus Notes, offer a broad range of well-known features and functions. Lotus Notes databases store a plurality of objects, for example, forms, documents, views, folders, agents, navigators, and other objects.
Forms and documents typically comprise one or more fields. Forms may be used to display and edit documents.
A view is a collection of documents selected and organized based on predetermined user specific processes. Notes determines which documents are to be displayed in a particular view based on the user specified process. Folders are another type of view. Documents within a folder are selected by a user, whereas documents within a view are arranged according to the predetermined user specific processes.
Auto-indexing refers to automatically indexing documents within a database. Auto-indexing may index documents within the database according to fields within the document. Auto-indexing occurs when a document is created. When a document is created, the system lists the document in an index of the database. A database configured to include a Full-text index enables system users to perform full-text searching of the database.
Agents automate a sequence of events. Agents are processes which occur upon the occurrence of an event. For example, Notes agents may be used to automatically organize items within a folder.
Navigators provide a graphical process for finding documents or taking actions without maneuvering through multiple views or find menu commands.
A drawback of prior systems is that powerful non-HTML based database functionality has not been exposed to a web browser. For example, a standard server typically does not have the ability to interpret and respond to a HTML-based browser request.
These and other drawbacks exist.